The iPad edition of the media fingerprinting and discovery app Shazam has been updated today with a couple noteworthy enhancements.

First and foremost, the app can now auto-tag the music, television shows and ads playing around you (most likely on your telly), even when the app is in the background (you’ll see the red bar when auto-tagging is running).

This interesting television-tagging capability lets you surf the web, check your email and chat with your friends, for example, while Shazam dutifully identifies what’s playing on the radio or your telly. You can then revisit those tags later to pick the media you’re interested in.

And, a redesigned homescreen makes it easier to see what your Facebook friends have been watching and listening to, explore popular tags by continents, countries, regions, cities and towns and browse the most tagged TV shows in the past few hours…

Shazam version 6.0, a major new update and now a universal binary, has enabled those features exclusively on iPads. The company confirmed it’s hard at work bringing those same features to its iPhone app, as well as to an Android tablet app to be released in the coming months.

As for Shazam’s interactive maps, you can zoom from your current location to cities, countries and continents across the globe to discover what’s popular and what other users have tagged.

Here’s a rundown through all-new iPad-exclusive features:

• Auto Tagging: When Shazam is running it tags music and media around you – like songs featured in a TV show or music playing on your device. • Shazam even runs in the background and tags while you check your emails or play a game. • Dynamic new home screen: Browse real time updates of what’s being tagged on TV right now (US only) and the hottest music tracks globally. • Flip through your recent matches – add the ones you like to your favorites

Check out a nice promo.

Why bring new stuff to iPad first?

According to The Guardian, Shazam has seen “triple-digit growth over the last year for our existing iPad app, even though we haven’t really aggressively promoted it.”

Not only that, Shazam has “some awesome new features coming first to the iPad”, per iTunes release notes.

You must be wondering about background-tagging impact on your iPad’s battery life. Shazam’s executive vice president of marketing, David Jones, told The Guardian:

We’ve been testing it extensively to see if it drains the battery when running in the background, but the iPad can go for a couple of days with this running. It doesn’t change your charging behavior – how often you have to plug in – which is very important.

The free Shazam app and paid-for Shazam Encor are now available for download from the App Store. The two apps are also available on Android smartphones and tablets, through Google’s Play Store (Shazam, Shazam Encore).

Keep in mind they’ve replaced the existing Shazam for iPad app with the updated Shazam 6.0, now a universal binary. You’ll however want to keep Shazam for iPad upon installing the new Shazam in order to import your existing tags.

Afterwards, you can safely remove Shazam for iPad and continue using the new Shazam 6.0 on your Apple tablet.